Sexism on Stage at Hackathon

September 9, 2013

By Developer.com Staff

Over the weekend, TechCrunch sponsored a hackathon which is gaining attention not for the apps created but for the inappropriate nature of some of the content. The developers who participated in the event each had 60 seconds to present their creations, but two of those presentations are coming under criticism. One mobile development team created an app called "Titstare" which displays pictures of breasts. Another developer created a game which requires the user to shake a smartphone up and down as fast as possible, and in his demonstration, he pretended to masturbate.

Many people are saying that the two presentations are symptomatic of the sexism that pervades the development industry. Others are pointing out that the presentations are particularly troubling because many children were in attendance, including a nine-year-old girl who created and showed off a clever website she created for finding play dates.

TechCrunch has posted an apology for not properly vetting the presentations.